Longtime Supporters Establish Endowed Scholarship at WTAMU

CANYON, Texas—Two West Texas A&M University alumni have given a generous gift to West Texas A&M University’s Share Your Pride campaign to establish the David C. and Sandra L. Cook Agriculture Scholarship in the WTAMU Department of Agricultural Sciences.

The Cooks, both 1969 graduates of WTAMU, established the scholarship in honor of his mother, Evaline Hardin Cook. The Canadian, Texas, native borrowed money from a neighboring rancher to attend West Texas State Normal College. She earned a teaching certificate and rode a horse to work every day as a teacher at Prairie Dell School located just southeast of her hometown. Her son David witnessed her passion for teaching, and it instilled in him the value of an education. The David C. and Sandra L. Cook Agriculture Scholarship will support that passion in perpetuity for students majoring in agriculture at WTAMU.

The scholarship is unique in the way it was created through the campaign’s first-time use of a planned gift option called a charitable gift annuity. This option allows donors to make a significant gift to the University while receiving a guaranteed, partially tax-free income for their lifetime as well as a tax deduction.

At least one scholarship will be awarded annually at a minimum of $1,000. Recipients will be non-freshman majoring in agriculture with a minimum GPA of 2.5. Preference will be based on need.

David and Sandra Cook, longtime supporters of WTAMU, own and operate Cook Farms and Cattle Company in Canadian. They are members of the Alumni Association’s White Buffalo Society and lifetime members of the WTAMU Agriculture Development Association, where David servers on the board of directors.

The Cook’s gift is part of the University’s Share Your Pride campaign. The $35 million comprehensive campaign is well past the midway point of its five-year run with more than $25 million raised. The campaign began in January 2009 with its lead gift phase, raising $20 million in endowed and non-endowed gifts. The public phase of the campaign began in late August 2012 and will continue through September 2014. The campaign has three priorities—capital projects, $12 million, faculty/program support, $8 million, and scholarships, $15 million.

For more information about Share Your Pride and giving opportunities at WTAMU, visit wtamu.edu/campaign.